Long-Term "Storage Mode" for Grandmas House

[Jesse Aizenstat]

It is with some emotional sorrow that I report that my 96 year old grandmother just can't live in her house anymore with her caregivers. She's had a good life and it will continue at a retirement facility, a few minutes from my house. However, one of my grandmas wishes is that her house remain vacant while she is still alive. She bought the thing for $50,000 fifty years ago and she just wants to keep it. Emotional? Sure. But before any of us pass judgement as investors let us just remember that we haven't been tested the same way she has been at that stage of life. Let her watch her home remotely on my iPhone via cameras or even go and visit on occasion, I say. Give an old women her dignity and respect her wishes. Right? It's her house.

So what do I need to do to keep the house going without regular use?

It's a typical "grandma house" that could use a little TLC, but overall it's fine. We want to avoid potential damages of non-use: frozen pipes, HVAC getting funky, etc. The following are what I'm considering doing on a bi-monthly basis when I drive down to check up on the property. I"m very curious to hear the opinions of others. The property is in Los Angeles, so no snow. We'll keep the property in the family and use it as a rental, with capital improvements along the way. (Hopefully my boy gets a basketball scholarship at UCLA and lives there one day or something.)

Bi-Monthly Maintenance Checklist

1. - Install Amcrest Cameras (anyone have a better brand they like?)
2. - Drain pool, cover pool
3. - Run HVAC for 10 minutes, AC/Heat
4. - Leave refrigerator slightly open
5. - Run all water fixtures and flush toilets a few times
6. - Drain and turn off water heater 
7. - Have gardener specifically look for rodents intrusion

Any and all ideas on additional long-term storage welcome. Thank you.

[Theresa Harris]

Does anyone in the family live nearby her house and where is the retirement home she's living in relative to her house?  If her home is close to the retirement home, perhaps people could stop by the vacant house on their way to visit grandma or stay there if they live out of town and are visiting grandma.

I'd also disconnect the washing machine.